Friction draft-gear



R. l. COOK.

FRICTION DRAFT GEAR. APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1920.

Patented May 31, 1921.

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APPLICATION FILED APR 9, I920.

Patented May 31,1921.

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FRICTION DRAFT GEAR.

APPLICATION HLED APR.9.1920.

Patented Maj31,1921.

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ROY J. COOK, OF CHIGAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TOG-FORGE C. MURRAY, OFCHICAGO .ATENT omen.

ILLINOIS. I

FRICTION DRAFT-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t May 31, 1 2

Application. filed April 9, 1920. Serial No. 3?2,460.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROY J. Coon, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFriction Draft-Gears, of which the following-is a specification.

This invention relates to frictional draft gear for use in connectionwith the drawbar mechanism of railway cars, and its purpose is toprovide a device having an 1ncreased number and improved arrangement ofthe friction surfaces. The principal object of the invention is toprovide a frictional draft gear in which the coacting friction blocksare arranged in a new and improved manner, so that the area of thecontacting surfaces is greatly increased as compared with any of thefrictional draft gears heretofore known. A further object is to providea frictional draft gear comprising a pair of endcasings adapted'to bemounted within the yoke and having friction blocks mounted 'within thesecasings and connected by intermediate compressible mechanism. A'furtherfeature of the invention is the provision of end casings which areconnected by side wedge members adapted to have a sliding engagementwith the side walls of the casings. Other objects relate to variousfeatures of construction and arrangement which will appear more fullyhereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the followingspecification, taken with'the accompanying drawings, in which oneembodiment is illustrated.

In the drawings Figure l'shows a top plan view of the invention with apart thereof illustrated in horizontal section on the line 1--1 of Fig.2;

Fig. 2 shows a transverse sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of one of the side wedge blocks;

Fig. 4 shows a side elevation of the draft gear yoke with the frictionaldraft gear mechanism illustrated in longitudinal section on the line4.--4.- of Fig. 1;

*Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of one of the central. wedge blocks;

6 shows a perspective view of. one of the intermediate wedge blocks; and

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of one of the end casings which aremounted within the yoke.

The invention is shown in connection with the usual longitudinal centersills 10 of a railway car. The usual draft lugs 11 are secured to thesecenter sills by rivets 12 and are adapted to engage the draft mechanism,whichis mounted within the'yoke 13. This yoke comprises upper and lowerwalls 13 and 13 respectively, which are united at their rear ends by therear wall 13 At the forward end of the yoke the upper and lowerwalls aresecured to the butt 14; of a drawbar 1 1- by means of vertical pins orrivets 15. The yoke is supported on the center sills of the car by meansof the transverse carrier plates 16, which are secured to the lowerflanges of the sills by rivets 17, as shown in Fig. 2.

The frictional draft gear mechanism comprises two end casings 20, eachof which comprises an upper wall 20, a lower wall 20, side walls 20 andan end wall 20 All of these walls are formed integrally and the casingsare mounted within the yoke 13, with the end walls 20 adapted to abutagainst the end wall 13 of the yoke and the butt 14 of the drawbar.These casings project laterally beyond the yoke 13 and are adapted tocoact with the draft lugs 11, as illustrated'in Fig. 1. The open ends ofthe casings 20 thus face toward each other and are spaced apart topermit rela tive endwise movement of the casings when the draft gear iscompressed. casings are connected by sidefr'iction blocks or shoes 21,which have the form illustrated particularly in Fig. 3, where it willloeseen that each block comprises upper and lower walls 21 united byinclined end walls 21 and by vertically extending outer walls 21. Theouter walls 21 are adapted to coast with the inner surfaces of the sidewalls 20 i of the casings 20. and the inclined end sun faces 2i areadapted to coact with the in clined surfaces 22 which are formed on theintermediate friction blocks 22. These blocks 22 are substantiallytriangular in cross-section and the surfaces 22 which. conaway along theedges thereof opposite the frictional surfaces 22, as shown at 22, thusproviding clearance to permit the movement of the blocks 22 toward eachother upon compression of the draft gear.

The central friction blocks 23 are provided with transverse walls 23opposite the converging frictional surfaces 23 and these walls 23 areadapted to coact with the coil springs 24 which extend longitudinally ofthe d aft gear between the side friction blocks 21. Dowel pins 23 areformed on the walls 23" to engage the springs 24: and hold them inproper position.

Upon longitudinal movement of the draft gear yoke with respect to thedraft lugs, one of the casings 20 will be moved longitudinally towardthe other casing, which is held stationary by the lugs. This movementwill cause a relative sliding of the friction shoes 21 with respect tothe side walls of the casings 20, thus forcing the intermediate wedgeblocks inwardly on the end walls of the casings. The inward movement ofthe intermediate wedge blocks will cause a movement of the central wedgebloc :s 23 longitudinally of the yoke, thereby compressing the springs24. It will be seen that in this movement of the parts which compose thefrictional draft gear there is a relative sliding of blocks overfrictional surfaces which are comparatively large in extent, so that thecompression of the draft gear is opposed by an extremely largefrictional area in addition to the re sistance of the springs 24?. Thearrangement of the friction blocks provides a compact constructionhaving a large number of frictional surfaces.

Although I have shown and described one form of the invention forpurposes of illustration, it will be understood that it may beconstructed in various other ernbodiments without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a draft gear yoke of casings mounted in theopposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, friction shoesmounted within and extending between said casings, said friction shoeshaving surfaces coacting with the lateral walls of said casings, andintermediate compressible mechanism mounted between said friction-shoesand coacting with the end walls of said casings.

2. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mountedin opposite ends of the yoke and facing each other, said casings havingvertically extending side walls and end walls, friction shoes extendinglongitudinally between said casings and coacting with the side wallsthereof, said friction shoes having inclined inner surfaces, andintermediate mechanism comprising wedge blocks coacting with saidinclined surfaces and with said end walls.

3. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mountedin opposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, said casingshaving upper and lower walls and side walls and end walls, frictionshoes mounted between said upper and lower walls and coacting with saidside walls, said friction shoes having inner end surfaces inclined awayfrom said side walls at their ends, intermediate wedge blocks coactingwith said inclined end surfaces and with said end walls, and connectingthe oppositely disposed friction shoes, and compressible means extendinglongitudinally of said yoke between-the intermediate wedge blocksmounted within the oppositely disposed casings.

l. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mountedin opposite ends of said vokeand facing toward each other, said. casingscomprising upper and lower walls and side walls extending parallel tothe longitudinal axis of said yoke, friction shoes supported by saidlower walls and having parts coacting with the inner surfaces of saidside walls, said friction shoes having end surfaces inclined away fromsaid side walls, intermediate wedge blocks mounted in each of saidcasings and coacting with said inclined end surfaces, said intermediatewedge blocks being supported by said lower walls, and intermediatecompressible mechanism extending between the intermediate wedge blocksin the .opposite'casings.

The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mounted inopposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, said casingscomprising trans verse end walls and longitudinal side walls extendingparallel to the longitudinal axis of said yoke, friction shoes havingouter surfaces adapted to coact with the inner surfaces of said sidewalls, said friction shoes having inclined inner surfaces at their ends,and intermediate wedge blocks coacting with and adapted to travel onsaid inclined end surfaces and saidtransverse end walls of said casings.

G. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mountedin opposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, said casingscomprising transverse end walls having horizontal upper and lower wallsand vertical side walls extending longitudinally therefrom, frictionshoes carried by said lower walls having outer surfaces coacting withthe inner surfaces of said side walls, said friction shoes having innerend surfaces inclined away from said side walls, and intermediate wedgeblocks substantially triangular in cross section supported by said lowerwalls and coacting with. said inclined end surfaces and with said endwalls.

7. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casings mountedin opposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, said casingscomprising trans verse end walls having horizontal upper and lowerwalls-and vertical side walls extending longitudinally therefrom,friction shoes carried by said lower walls having outer surfacescoacting with the inner surfaces of said side wall, said friction shoeshaving inner end surfaces inclined away from said side walls,intermediate wedge blocks substantially triangular in cross sectioncoaeting with said inclined end surfaces and withthe inner surfaces ofsaid transverse end walls within each of said casings, and springsextending longitudinally of said yoke and connecting the intermediatewedge blocks in opposite casings.

'8. The combination with a draft gear yoke of a pair of casingsmountedin opposite ends of said yoke and facing toward each other, said casingscomprising transverse end walls having horizontal upper and lower wallsand vertical side walls extending longitudinally therefrom, frictionshoes carried by said lower walls having outer surfaces coacting withthe inner surfaces of said sidewalls, said friction shoes having innerend surfaces inclined away from said side walls, a pair of intermediatewedge blocks of triangular cross section mounted in each of saidcasings, each of said intermediate wedge blocks having one wall coactingwith said inclined end surfaces of said friction shoes and another wallcoacting with the transverse end wall of one of said casings, theremaining walls of each pair of intermediate wedge blocks divergingtoward the opposite end of saidyoke, central wedge blocks substantiallytriangular in cross section fitting between and coacting with saiddivergingesurfaces, and springs extending longitudinally of said yokeand connecting said central wedge blocks in the opposite casings.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

ROY J. COOK.

